Goodnight to Thee
by Charon the Sabercat
Summary: A tender moment between Lilo and Jumba. RATED G, get your mind out of the gutter! R


Goodnight to Thee  
  
Tender moment 'tween Jumba and Lilo, 'cause I think it's cute she calls him Uncle Jumba sometimes, and Jumba reminds me of my Grandpa, all fat and cuddly and sweet, and it's pure fluffy cotton candy non-romantic stuff, it's cute, just read.  
  
"History Channel." Jumba repeated to himself, rubbing his smaller eyes lazily. "Boring, boring network. Informative, but boring."  
  
He adjusted himself on the sofa so that he was lying on his back and flipped to another station. "Discovery channel, not as boring, but still pretty boring." Flip the channel again. "Ugh, Planet's Funnist Animals! Being better with Discovery Network!" Back to Discovery.  
  
Jumba heard a soft panting noise coming from his feet. He craned his neck to see Lilo, dressed in her little blue nightgown, standing at his feet.  
  
"Little girl? Vhy are you not being asleep?" he asked, pointing to her.  
  
Lilo, who was doubled over trying to catch her breathe, swallowed to wet her throat. "I couldn't sleep, had a nightmare. Can I stay with you 'til I'm not scared anymore?"  
  
"Eh, sure, vhy not?" Jumba couldn't offer her sofa room, so Lilo sat on the floor.  
  
They sat in an umcomfortable silence for a while before Jumba asked what the nightmare was about.  
  
"It was." Lilo began to breathe erractically. Jumba couldn't see her face; her back was to him. "Me and Stitch had captured an experiment, but it made Nani all angry and mad. And then she said she didn't love me anymore, and she kicked me outta the house, and-"  
  
Lilo took a shuddering breathe and continued, her voice breaking. "And, and while I was walking away from the house, Gantu came and took all the other experiments, even Stitch! And then the house blew up, and a piece landed on me, and I couldn't move, or breathe, or see, or anything!"  
  
Lilo began to cry, wailing and howling loud enough for nearly the entire house to hear her. Without thinking, Jumba sat up and scooped her up into his big, squishy hands, holding her to his stomach. She buried her face in his belly while he tried his best to comfort her.  
  
"Little girl, vhat vould make you dream somet'ing like that?" Jumba felt. very strange as he held the sobbing child to his body. It was something he'd never really experienced before. He'd have to look into it. "Vhy vould you of all people be having nightmare?"  
  
"I dunno!" Lilo mumbled, her voice muffled by Jumba's Santa-like belly. "I- I only had dreams like that after Mom and Dad died. I never had nightmares like this one before then."  
  
"Ah, losing parents can be wery traumatizing experience," Jumba ditacted. "I understand."  
  
"But this is different!" Lilo shouted, pulling her wet, swollen face out of Jumba's shirt. "This all felt so real, like I could hear the explosion, and I couldn't breathe when the house fell on me, and I thought I saw Nani being blown up." Lilo dug herself into Jumba's arm. "I'm scared."  
  
Jumba, holding Lilo like he would hold a bowling ball (in one arm), stroked her hair comfortingly. "There there, nothing but hyperactive cerebral neuroses acting with your skull. Not real. But tell me, little girl, vhy did you not seek 626 for comfort?"  
  
"He wasn't in his bed," Lilo whispered. "I tried to get in bed with Pleakly, but he pushed me away, and Nani has her door locked."  
  
"626 is having cold, sleeping in dryer for extra heat," Jumba explained. "Pleakly suffers from nocturnal myoclonus, or movement of limbs vhile sleeping. Nani said she had big day at vork tomorrow, could not be disturbed vhile sleeping."  
  
"Oh," Lilo sighed. "I guess I have to go back in my room now." She shuddered, dreading the thought of retreating back into her large, mostly empty, cold, metallic room.  
  
"Now vait, little girl!" Jumba picked her up by the armpits with both of his hands "Who is saying you must go back to room if you don't want to? Sit with me, watch tv until you feel better!"  
  
"You really mean it?!" Lilo gasped, smiling her big, open mouthed smile.  
  
"Really mean it!" Jumba said, following it with a hearty laugh, slamming his himself back down on the sofa. He dropped Lilo into his stomach, were she sunk down like a weight on a water bed. "We are both being in need of good company!"  
  
"Thanks, Uncle Jumba!" Lilo made herself comfortable and drifted to sleep on Jumba's stomach.  
  
Oddly enough, he didn't mind. Jumba liked having her there, weighing his gut down, feeling something warm against his skin that wasn't an energy hand-restraint. She was a good little girl, a little impetuous and overly- trusting, but good little girl. And he liked the idea of being called "Uncle Jumba". He never had brothers or sisters; his parents, too, had been the victims of an unfortunate accident, although they met their fates at the hands of a crazy Centauiran madman who piloted their aircab into a Uburnium fillup station. He knew what she was going through; he had been plagued with vivid nightmares of watching his parents get blown into itty bitty pieces (although he had never really seen the accident).  
  
"Goo'night, Uncle Jumba."  
  
Jumba placed a big, loving hand over Lilo's tiny body. "Good night, Lilo."  
  
Lilo? He'd never addressed her by her name before. Why this moment, of all times?  
  
Because, he began to think to himself, they had bonded. He realized that the same magic she had used on the experiments had taken him, too. Good was triumphing over the evil in him, and he was beginning to form a connection with her; a bond. This, for his species, was incredibly hard to do, even within his own kind (which explained why he had an ex-wife), so it was a marvel that he could even conceive the notion that Lilo was his friend, or even closer. By this time, she wasn't even a friend anymore; she was a daughter.  
  
"Lilo." he whispered as he drifted off into a dark sleep. The last thing he saw was the girl's sleeping form. "My darling, precious Lilo."  
  
Black.  
  
AAAAAWWW, cutey-ness chocked! That's all, goodbye! 


End file.
